10 
Half -hr  ed  Horses  for  Field  or  Road: 
kind  of  stock — not  by  haphazard,  hut  on  system.  One  really 
good  horse  will  leave  more  money  than  a whole  field  full  of 
cattle  ; but  I am  sure  of  this,  nothing  will  bring  a farmer  to  a 
stone-heap  sooner  than  stocking  his  farm  with  a lot  of  worthless 
horses. 
I remember,  as  a boy,  old  Kirby  of  York  buying  such  horses 
of  my  father  to  go  to  Russia  as  you  rarely  see  now,  as  compared 
to  the  modern  thoroughbred — wider,  different  shoulders,  and 
better  limbed.  The  retrospect  of  nearly  fifty  years  teaches  me 
that  foreigners  have  purchased  our  best  mares  and  best  stallions  : 
foreigners  will  have  none  other  than  well-shaped,  well-legged, 
and  well-actioned  horses.  There  is  now-a-days  a scarcity  of 
really  good  horses  in  hands  that  will  sell  them.  There  are 
more  thoroughbred  hunters  now,  but  they  are  not  so  good  as 
those  I remember  when  ridden  by  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord 
Fitzwilliam,  Lord  Scarborough,  my  father,  the  Duke  of  Grafton, 
Lord  Lonsdale,  and  many  others.  These  horses  were  wider, 
shorter  legged,  firmer,  and  better  than  the  steeple-chasers  of  the 
present  day.  Formerly,  second  horses  in  the  hunting-field  were 
unusual,  and  not  wanted.  When  I was  a boy,  there  were 
perhaps  only  two  or  three  places  in  a fence  you  could  get 
through  : modern  hunting,  with  its  trimmed  and  jumpable  fences, 
is  more  like  steeple-chasing.  Improvement  in  my  time  has 
brought  much  undrained  land  into  cultivation,  and  fitted  it  for 
sheep,  where  previously  horses  and  cattle  only  were  bred  : 
Dickenson,  the  job-master,*  used  to  say  that  in  Yorkshire  the 
sheep  have  eaten  the  horse  ! On  many  small  holdings  now  con- 
solidated, small  farmers  worked  useful  mares,  and  bred  valuable 
foals.  Influenza  has  had  a discouraging  effect.  It  came  with  the 
potato-disease  and  the  foot-and-mouth  disease  in  1845,  and  has 
been  more  or  less  prevalent  ever  since,  causing  in  horses  many 
roarers.  I never  had  a roarer  before, j"  and  have  never  been  with- 
out one  since.  In  1861-2  influenza  broke  out  amongst  28  such 
horses  of  mine  as  now  you  rarely  see.  Formerly  in  the  every- 
day business  of  life  much  more  was  expected  of  a horse  in  the 
way  of  condition,  endurance,  and  stamina.  If  in  the  present 
* Mr.  Dickenson,  I knew — lie  was  a remarkable  man,  because  be  was  an  exact 
man  ; in  his  own  hand  he  kept  a record  of  every  horse  of  the  thousands  ho  must 
have  owned  during  his  long  and  successful  career.  “ Breeders  of  cattlo  and  sheep,” 
ho  said,  “ keep  their  best  females,  but  as  regards  horses  only  the  unsaleable 
remain.  Select  your  mares  at  two  years  old  ; make  up  your  mind  what  you 
want — in  breeding  have  an  aim.  The  best  hacks  are  by  a thoroughbred  out  of  a 
pony  mare.”  Dickenson  held  the  horse  that  walks  well  can  trot  and  gallop. — C. 
f This  statement  is  noteworthy.  “ltoaring”is  a disease  decidedly  on  the 
increase,  particularly  among  thoroughbred  horses.  Colts  “roar  ” before  they  arc 
backed  ; the  disease  is  said  to  prevail  more  in  Yorkshire  than  elsewhere.  Horses 
are  more  subject  than  mares.  I quote  from  a recent  work,  the  latest  I have, 
* The  Horse-owners  Safeguard.’  lleatley.  Blackwood  & Son,  London,  1882. — C. 
